An updated announcement, with extended deadline, on the details of the Laura Van Dam Travel Fellowships for travel to the World Conference of Science Journalists 2011 will be issued around March 2, pending final details of the conference given historic events in Egypt.
Science writing news
NASW awarded travel grants to 10 undergraduates interested in science writing to attend the AAAS meeting in Washington, D.C., Feb. 17-21. The fellows reported on some of the scientific sessions that they found most interesting and newsworthy.
About four and a half years ago I became a different kind of science writer. My beat went from writing about science to writing about other science writers. Monday through Friday I’m up before dawn, blogging by about 7 a.m., and at around noon I send off from my home in California a compilation of impressions of what I’ve found in breaking news and occasionally in feature writing.
A clueless Aeron Haworth takes on Ed Yong and the rest of the blogosphere. (Yong won.) A glimpse of the AAAS meeting. Watson, come here – and bring your medical information technology (but not your computer overlords) with you.
NASW already uses its funds to cover travel fellowships and career grants, and to underwrite a portion of the annual workshops to keep registration fees low. Now, we also are soliciting big ideas for the organization to develop new ways to serve science writers. Proposals due June 1.
NASW is in discussion with the Arab Science Journalists Association, our partners in sponsoring the World Conference of Science Journalists, and with the World Federation of Science Journalists. We are evaluating conference logistics, given the historic events in Egypt. We should have new information available on the conference by March 2 and will announce an updated call for Laura Van Dam travel fellowships at that time.
Despite the fact that scientists are able to look inside the brain using a variety of live imaging techniques, their ability to visualize individual neurons in living animals is very limited. A new study lets us take a closer look at how our brains change over time in response to disease.
You have unlimited space to tell your scientific tale. How do you get readers to pay attention? Is the future of science writing timelines and explainers?
Reviews of seven new books have been posted in the ScienceWriters Bookstore, including a medical review of the House, M.D., television show and the story of an eagle who became an inspiration to Union soldiers in the Civil War. Use the search box on the Bookstore page to buy anything sold at Amazon.com. Your purchases earn a commission on each sale that helps fund NASW programs and services.